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Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts (CFA) continues to explore the capacity of art to reflect and transform the world this season with a spring semester featuring exhibitions and live performances of commissioned works by visiting artists, and convenings with the campus community led by this year’s artist in residence Anna Deavere Smith Hon. '97. CFA Director Joshua Lubin-Levy ’06 said this academic year that the Center for the Arts has been thinking about how art creates assemblies—a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. “We continue that work this spring with a wide range of special…

President Michael S. Roth ’78 called for wider access to higher education in a piece for The New York Times on anti-elitism. Roth highlighted Wesleyan’s partnership with the National Education Equity Lab, a nonprofit that offers free college classes to Title I high school students to increase educational opportunities for low-income students. “Education transforms lives; we just need to make it more widely available.” Roth’s piece was mentioned in a later Boston Globe article. Roth also wrote a piece on a collection of letters by neurologist Oliver Sacks for The Atlantic. “Writing would be his way of seeking recognition, of…

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become ubiquitous in day-to-day life. From predictive text to virtual assistants to video games, AI is now embedded in most technologies we use. Its impact on research, though, is yet to be seen. Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science and Society Tsampikos Kottos and researchers from five other universities aim to explore that impact. Researchers will attempt to create a physics-based generative AI platform, referred to colloquially as “Physics-GPT.” The purpose of the platform would be to control chaos by, paradoxically, introducing a bit of randomness to the systems. To develop Physics-GPT, Kottos and his collaborators…

By Eliana Fiore In an engaging lunchtime talk on Nov. 21, Matt Motta ’13, assistant professor of health law, policy, and management at Boston University’s School of Public Health, presented research findings indicating that one in three Americans harbor some degree of resentment towards scientists and other public health experts. Not only do anti-intellectual attitudes exist to that degree, but his research shows that Americans with these views may act on them. Motta, whose new book entitled Anti-Scientific Americans: The Prevalence, Political Origins, and Political Consequences of Anti-Intellectualism in the U.S. was published in September, defines anti-intellectualism as “the distrust and…

For 85 years, WESU, Wesleyan’s campus radio station, has offered a mix of music and public affairs programming. This year, the station launched a new program, Engage Radio, to shine a light on the community-engaged work of its university partners and residents from across the greater Middletown community. Broadcast bimonthly on Friday afternoons, Engage Radio has featured a blend of stories that has included artist in residence Sunny Jain talking about his music and the experience of South Asians globally; Center for Prison Education (CPE) Director Tess Wheelwright sharing the history and milestones of CPE; and community partner Donna Hylton,…

Playwright, actor, and educator Anna Deavere Smith Hon. '97 launched her yearlong residency at Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts (CFA) on Oct. 27 with the first public staged reading of her new work This Ghost of Slavery. The cast featured 15 actors, including Associate Professor of Theater, African American Studies, and English Rashida McMahon, along with students Connor Wrubel ’25 and Raimi Bagwell ’26. First published in The Atlantic, the work blends contemporary interviews with activists and social justice workers with her research into the archives of American slavery, revealing how historical trauma shapes present-day behavior. The play depicts events…

Legendary director Charles Burnett paved the way for generations of African American filmmakers in his work, including director Shaka King who made the recent Academy Award-nominated film Judas and the Black Messiah. Burnett and King spoke and screened their work at Wesleyan during the 2024 Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns, titled “Black Voices and Visionaries in Cinema,” on Nov. 8 and 9. The two filmmakers were joined by international film producers Ama Ampadu and Tamara Dewit for presentations and a panel discussion. Endowed by James Shasha '50, P'82, the Shasha Seminar supports lifelong learning and encourages participants to expand their…

Artist Glenn Ligon '82, Hon. '12 spoke with Associate Professor and Program Director for Art History and Associate Professor of American Studies Claire Grace on Nov. 1 in the Frank Center for Public Affairs during Homecoming and Family Weekend 2024. The exhibition, Reading Signs: Jasper Johns and Glenn Ligon in Print, which features etchings and lithographs by both artists as well as screenprints by Johns from the Davison Art Collection, is on display at the Pruzan Art Center in the Goldrach Gallery through Dec. 11. In her introduction to the conversation, Grace noted that Ligon’s work has been at the…

Wesleyan’s Government Department gathered students to take in the results of the Nov. 5 election together, with games, snacks, and multiple news feeds. “I feel like today, and this time in particular, is very anxiety inducing,” said Adriana Begolli ’25, co-chair of the Government Majors Committee. “Everyone can't focus on their work because they're really nervous. So, we really just wanted to come up with a space that people can learn more about what's going on, but it doesn’t feel super anxious.” Professor of Government Mary Alice Haddad said she helped to create the event because this election night…

For many, the ideal of democracy lies in the concepts of government by the people and the rule of the majority. While this is a significant part of what makes a democracy work, or fail, the discourse surrounding elections plays a key role, too, said Xander Starobin ’27. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Starobin and dozens of other Wesleyan students have taken action to strengthen democracy, canvassing in states that could define this year’s election, and the country, going forward. “To be able to go canvass—which is directly talking to people about what people are concerned about,…

From across the country, thousands of Wesleyan alumni and family members came together for a weekend of community, connection, and conversation during Homecoming and Family Weekend (HCFW) from Nov. 1 to Nov. 3. HCFW activities kicked off on Friday with numerous opportunities for alumni, families, and students to attend classes, open houses, exhibits, and WESeminars—presentations that allow Cardinals to revisit the classroom and experience the pragmatic liberal arts that is the essence of Wesleyan. For many, it was first and foremost an opportunity to reconnect. Sueann M. Papertsian P’28, from New York, was looking forward to reuniting with her son,…

To hear Nicholas Whittaker tell it, horror movies are greater than the sum of their terrifying, putrid parts. “[Horror] allows us to sit in that feeling that the world is something you could never fully understand—and that’s also the place where philosophy is born,” says Whittaker, assistant professor of philosophy. “Philosophy happens when you recognize that your ways of making sense of the world—whether with science, with history, with psychology—aren’t cutting it anymore. When it feels like there’s an excess of unintelligibility in the world, that’s [also] where horror thrives.” This semester, Whittaker is digging beneath the gore and the…

CFA Spring Preview: Exploring How Art Creates Knowledge

Wesleyan in the News: January 2025

Taming Chaos in Physical Systems Through Artificial Intelligence

Matt Motta ’13 Delivers Talk on Anti-Intellectual Beliefs and Politics

New WESU Program Shares Community Engagement Stories

Anna Deavere Smith Starts Yearlong Artist Residency

Celebrated Filmmakers, Producers Share Insight into Black Cinema at Shasha Seminar

Glenn Ligon ’82, Hon. ’12 Talks Career, Work at Pruzan Art Center

Gallery: Election Night Watch Party

Wesleyan Students Canvass Voters in Key Swing State

Celebrating Community at Homecoming and Family Weekend 2024

The Gory Details: Nicholas Whittaker on Philosophy and Black Horror Cinema